ASHENEWS reports that Residents in Sokoto state have expressed concern over the improper management of discarded needles and other sharps which can pose a health risk to the public and waste workers.
Improper management of discarded needles and other sharps continues to be a major challenge, particularly in most healthcare facilities where it is hampered by technological, economical, social difficulties and inadequate training of staff responsible for handling of the waste.
Poor conduct and inappropriate management and disposal methods exercised during handling and disposal of medical waste is an increasing significant health hazards and environmental pollution/hazards due to the infectious nature.
Musa Bello, a security guard in Sokoto State and father of three children is devastated because his son stepped on a hospital needle wrongly disposed of by hospital waste handlers and became infected with hepatitis B as a result.
In Nigeria, a typical developing African nation, not many people are aware that medical waste contributes substantially to environmental pollution and hazards.
This is reflected by lack of awareness and specific policy to address the menace of healthcare facility (HCF) waste, some of which is deemed hazardous.
Despite his limited resources Musa is left with no choice but to rush his son to the hospital to save his life.
“I’m not happy at all, my son went to the refuse dump and stepped on needle, he was taken to the hospital and sadly, the doctor said he is infected with hepatitis B. its very unfortunate” Musa said.
Medical waste covers all wastes produced in health-care or diagnostic activities which can infect human health.
According to the African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, medical waste can be infectious, contain toxic chemicals and pose contamination risks to both people and the environment.
Musa said that due to his old age and limited resources, his sons are scavenging on refuse dumps in search of metals and other scrap to sell to scrap buyers in order to make ends meet.
“One day, he (my son) came back from a scavenging place where he marched a needle, he complained to me and I asked him to boil water and put it at the place.
“I thought that the thing had gone, but later on, I observed that he showed some sign of sickness, i then took him to the hospital, and they confirmed to me that he has hepatitis B, what can I do? ” Musa lamented.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year there are about 8 to 16 million new cases of Hepatitis B virus (HBV), 2.3–4.7 million cases of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 80,000–160,000 cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) due to unsafe injections disposal and mostly due to very poor waste management systems.
In 2000, WHO also estimated that at world level accidents caused by sharps accounted for 66,000 cases of infection with the hepatitis B virus, 16,000 cases of infection with hepatitis C virus and 200 to 5,000 cases of HIV infection amongst the personnel of health-care facilities.
Professor N.O Oche, a Consultant with the Department of Community Medicine, Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto Nigeria said, “Of course the effects are, one, infection. Sometimes you’ll be wondering if somebody has not taken injections before but because he has come in contact to formalize or body fluid from people who are infected he can get that and other common diseases, we must be careful, and also the other one is contamination”.
Experts also said that other potential hazards may include drug-resistant microorganisms which spread from health facilities into the environment.
In developing countries like Nigeria and states like Sokoto State in particular, however the situation is different. Medical waste management has not received much attention.
Shehu Ahmad, a Chief Ward Servant at the Specialist Hospital in Sokoto explained how they engage with the medical waste in the Specialist Hospital, Sokoto.
“Like injections, there are safety boxes we share in every ward, so when the nurses use the injection on the patient they throw them in the safety box, when the safety box is almost full they bring it to us, there is a place we take them and burn them, and then we dig a hole we buried them.
“But for the red boxes that come from the labor room, they put all the gloves, cotton wool and hand gloves. Those ones we burn together with the safety box.
“But today, lack of enough facilities has driven many of the waste handlers to abandon their duties, hence the need for intervention by the government”.
Ensuring Sokoto State, Nigeria, and indeed Africa is free of diseases and death caused by wrongful disposal of hospital waste demands collective efforts by implementing the pillars outlined in the new public health order, increasing domestic investment in health.
There is sufficient evidence that when public health is adequately funded, it is capable of protecting and improving population health.
